BB COMMITTEE TO REVIEW CORPS OVERSIGHT AGREEMENT.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Staff Writer

The Proposition BB Bond Oversight Committee plans to review the Los Angeles Unified School District's decision to retain the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage the district's billion-dollar construction program.

Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller did not consult the citizens oversight panel before he signed an agreement with the Corps calling for the federal agency to manage the construction of 150 primary centers.

Yet, nearly half of the money that will be needed to build the new campuses would likely come from the $2.4 billion Proposition BB bond.

Michael Lehrer, vice chairman of the oversight panel, said commissioners cannot comment on the agreement because they don't know much about it. They will discuss the matter at its Wednesday meeting.

``The short answer is that it is going to be on our agenda and we are asking Howard Miller to give us a report,'' Lehrer said. ``Obviously, if one penny is going to be spent of BB dollars on Army Corps projects, we would have to approve that.''

Lehrer said he was not upset that the decision was made without input from the committee, but added: ``More communication is better than less communication, and probably really important.''

``I think there will be a lot of questions pretty much across the board on this,'' Lehrer said. ``It's a big deal.''

Following a Monday press conference to announce the district's agreement with the Army Corps, a senior administrator told the Daily News the move was made largely to prevent corruption in the massive school building program.

On Wednesday, Miller announced he would recommend putting the Corps in charge of conducting a six-week evaluation on the fate of the Belmont Learning Center.

Before publicly announcing the unusual agreement with the Corps, Miller and incoming Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines briefed Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa has opposed giving the district additional state money to complete Belmont, which sits partially completed atop an oil field seeping potentially deadly and explosive gases.

The powerful legislator told Miller and Cortines he would consider re-evaluating his stance if he was confident that the level of accountability in the district had increased, according to sources close to the discussions.

The $170 million sunk into Belmont has come largely from the district's general fund, not state bonds. The project has not received any Proposition BB money, but would be eligible for the local bond if it receives state money.

Miller and Cortines are scheduled to ask the school board to approve the Army's involvement at Belmont and an overall budget for the Corps at Tuesday's board meeting.

Last month, the school board voted to halt construction of the school and padlock the property. Belmont's developer was fired by the board last week.